Notifying a user of events in a computing device

ABSTRACT

In a computing device, event notifications take the form of alerts that can be presented in different ways. The particular form of each event notification depends on the nature of the event, the user task being performed at the time the event occurs, the user&#39;s preferences, or any combination thereof. In one aspect, the present invention presents event notifications in the form of banner alerts. Obtrusiveness is minimized by presenting the notification at a location near the edge of the screen (such as a bottom edge), and slightly shrinking the active display area to make room for the event notification. In this manner, event notifications can be presented without obscuring any part of the active display area. In addition, the user can obtain more information about the event by activating the notification (for example by tapping on it). In another aspect, the present invention provides a summary of pending event notifications. Thus, if the user is unable to (or does not wish to) respond to or acknowledge a notification when it is presented, the user can later view the event notification summary at his or her convenience, and can act on the event notifications at that time.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

In various embodiments, the present invention relates to a userinterface for a computing device, and more particularly to systems andmethods for notifying a user of events in such a computing device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

It is often necessary or useful to inform a user of an event that takesplace while a user is using a computing device. Some events requireimmediate action, warranting interruption of whatever task the user isperforming at the time the event occurs. An example is an incomingtelephone call, or a low-power warning on a battery-powered computingdevice. Other events are less critical, so that the user may wish to beinformed of the event without being interrupted in the task beingperformed. An example is receipt of an email message while the user isengaged in another task.

Conventional user interfaces provide several mechanisms for informingusers of events. Often, such mechanisms include visual elements such asdialog boxes that appear on a display screen, obscuring or partiallyobscuring the document or other item the user is working on. Users oftenfind such notifications intrusive and distracting. In addition, usersoften dismiss such notifications without paying them the appropriatelevel of attention, because the user is focused on some other task.Later, when the user wishes to revisit the notification so as to respondto it more appropriately, it is often difficult or impossible to do so,since the notification has already been dismissed.

Some user activities are interruptible upon receipt of an eventnotification. However, in many cases, a user may wish to easily resumethe activity after he or she has reviewed the event notification and/ortaken appropriate action. For example, if a user is on a telephone callwhen an event notification is presented, the user will generally want toresume the telephone call after viewing the event notification.

Devices having small screens, such as mobile devices including cellulartelephones, handheld computers, personal digital assistants,smartphones, music players, and the like, often present particularproblems in event notification. The limited screen sizes of such devicesprovide fewer options for visual notification of events. In addition, insuch devices, the entire screen is often devoted to a singleapplication, document, message, task, or activity, so as to make themost effective use of the extremely limited amount of space available.Accordingly, users of such devices are often subject to even moreintrusive event notifications that tend to obscure a greater proportionof the display area being used for the task at hand. These eventnotifications can make it difficult for users to respond appropriatelyto the event, and can also make it difficult for users to return to thetask they were performing before the event occurred. Accordingly,conventional event notifications often have an adverse effect on userproductivity and diminish the quality of the user experience.

What is needed is a system and method for notifying a user of an eventin a computing device in an unobtrusive way that minimizes taskinterruption and is effective for a device having a small screen. Whatis further needed is a system and method that provides different typesof event notifications depending on the urgency with which the user mustrespond to the notification. What is further needed is a system andmethod that allows a user to easily continue performing a task after anevent notification is received. What is further needed is a system andmethod that informs a user of an event, but allows the user to continueperforming a task and to view the notification in more detail at a latertime, if desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to various embodiments of the present invention, a mechanismis provided for notifying a user of events in a computing device. Eventnotifications take the form of alerts that can be presented in differentways. The particular form of each event notification depends on thenature of the event, the user task being performed at the time the eventoccurs, the user's preferences, or any combination thereof. The systemsand methods of the present invention, according to various embodiments,are particularly well suited to devices having small screens, as theyminimize the obtrusiveness of event notifications on such screens.However, one skilled in the art will recognize that the systems andmethods of the present invention, according to various embodiments, canbe used for presenting event notifications in any electronic devicehaving any type of visual display.

In one embodiment, the present invention presents event notifications inthe form of banner alerts. Obtrusiveness is minimized by presenting thenotification at a location near the edge of the screen (such as a bottomedge), and slightly shrinking the active display area to make room forthe event notification. In this manner, event notifications can bepresented without obscuring any part of the active display area. Inaddition, the user can obtain more information about the event byactivating the notification (for example by tapping on it).

In another embodiment, the present invention provides pop-upnotifications, such as dialog boxes, for more urgent events. Again, theactive display area can be reduced in size to allow the user to directlyinteract with the event notification.

According to one embodiment, the event notifications of the presentinvention are unobtrusive and allow the user the continue working in theactive display area while ignoring the notification, if desired.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides a summary ofpending event notifications. Thus, if the user is unable to (or does notwish to) respond to or acknowledge a notification when it is presented,the user can later view the event notification summary at his or herconvenience, and can act on the event notifications at that time.

In another aspect, certain notifications are automatically dismissedafter some period of time. Other notifications may persist, but berelegated to a notification summary that can later be expanded by theuser to view individual notifications at his or her convenience. Thebehavior of notifications can depend on user preferences, event type,current user activity, and/or any other factors.

Additional features and advantages will become apparent in thedescription provided below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate several embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention according to the embodiments. One skilled inthe art will recognize that the particular embodiments illustrated inthe drawings are merely exemplary, and are not intended to limit thescope of the present invention.

FIGS. 1A through 1C depict an example of an event notification presentedas a banner along the bottom edge of a display screen, according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A through 2C depict an example of an event notification beingdismissed upon expiration, and an example of an event notification beingoverwritten by a new notification, according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 3A through 3C depict an example of a persistent event notificationand an expandable event notification summary, according to embodimentsof the present invention.

FIGS. 3D through 3E depict an example of a transitory event notificationbeing overwritten by an expandable event notification summary, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3F depicts an example of an event notification summary in anexpanded state, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3G depicts an example of an application being invoked from an eventnotification summary, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4A depicts an example of an event notification summary including ahigh-priority pending event, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4B depicts an example of an expanded event notification summaryincluding a high-priority pending event, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 5 depicts a flow diagram depicting a method for displaying anddismissing event notifications and/or event summaries according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 6 depicts a method for displaying a new event notification when aprevious event notification is being displayed, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 7 depicts a method for displaying a new event notification when anevent summary is being displayed, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 8 depicts a method for activating an item in an event summaryaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 depicts a method for displaying a new event notification when aprevious event notification having a minimum display time is beingdisplayed, according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

System Architecture

According to various embodiments, the present invention can beimplemented on any electronic device, such as a handheld computer,personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer, kiosk, cellulartelephone, and the like. For example, in various embodiments, theinvention can be implemented as a feature of a software application oroperating system running on such a device. Accordingly, in variousembodiments, the present invention can be implemented as part of agraphical user interface for controlling and interacting with softwareon such a device.

In various embodiments, the invention is particularly well-suited todevices such as smartphones, handheld computers, and PDAs, which havelimited screen space and which are capable of running several softwareapplications concurrently. One skilled in the art will recognize,however, that in other embodiments the invention can be practiced inother contexts, including any environment in which it is useful toprovide event notifications to a user. Accordingly, the followingdescription is intended to illustrate various embodiments of theinvention by way of example, rather than to limit the scope of theclaimed invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 1A through 1C, there is shown an example of anevent notification 103 presented as a banner along the bottom edge of adisplay screen 101 of a device, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

In one embodiment, screen 101 is touch-sensitive, so that a user caninteract with applications, notifications, and other items by touchingvarious locations on screen 101. Touch-sensitive screen 101 can beimplemented using any technology that is capable of detecting a locationof contact. In another embodiment, a user can interact with on-screenitems by way of a keyboard and/or pointing device such as a trackball,roller switch, stylus, touchpad, mouse, or the like. In one embodiment,the device on which screen 101 is presented also includes atouch-sensitive gesture area (not shown) for entering gesture-basedcommands.

Screen 101 may be a component of a personal digital assistant,smartphone, or any other electronic device. Such devices commonly havetelephone, email, and text messaging capability, and may perform otherfunctions including, for example, playing music and/or video, surfingthe web, running productivity applications, and the like. In variousembodiments, the present invention can be implemented in any type ofelectronic device having a display screen, and is not limited to deviceshaving the listed functionality. In addition, the particular layoutshown in the Figures is merely exemplary and is not intended to berestrictive of the scope of the claimed invention.

FIG. 1A depicts screen with an active display area 102 for anapplication occupying substantially the entire screen 101. Activedisplay area 102 is blank in FIG. 1A; however, in actual use, activedisplay area 102 would contain content and/or application elementsrelevant to the task at hand. One skilled in the art will recognizethat, in various embodiments, the present invention can also beimplemented in a multi-window context or other environment where displayareas for more than one application are shown concurrently on screen101. Status bar 105 is also shown, including information such as currenttime, battery strength, signal strength, enabled services, and the like;however, status bar 105 is not needed for the present invention.

FIG. 1B depicts screen 101 when an event has taken place. Eventnotification 103 is displayed along the bottom edge of screen 101. Oneskilled in the art will recognize that event notification 103 can bedisplayed 501 at any location on screen 101; however, showing eventnotification 103 along one of the edges of screen 101 is advantageousbecause it is relatively unobtrusive. Active display area 102 isslightly reduced in size by scaling its contents to make room for eventnotification 103. Thus, none of the content of display area 102 isobscured; rather, it is merely resized to provide room for eventnotification 103. In an alternative embodiment, active display area 102is not resized, but a portion of area 102 is obscured by eventnotification 103. Event notification 103 can be made translucent, ifdesired, so that the obscured portion of display area 102 is stillvisible behind notification 103.

In the example of FIG. 1B, event notification 103 is an alert notifyingthe user of an incoming text message. Some or all of the text messagecan be displayed. One skilled in the art will recognize that eventnotification 103 can be of any type.

If the user activates event notification 103, for example by tapping onit, an application relevant to notification 103 is invoked. For example,FIG. 1C depicts a text messaging application 104 being invoked inresponse to a user tapping on event notification 103 of FIG. 1B thatshowed a text message. In one embodiment, invoking the application 104causes the remaining portion of the text message (or other content) tobe displayed. In addition, the application may provide the user withvarious options for interacting with, saving, deleting, flagging, and/orresponding to the message.

FIG. 1C depicts application 104 in the midst of a transition where itswindow is being opened. In one embodiment, application 104 occupies theentire screen 101 once invoked. In another embodiment, application 104occupies a portion of screen 101, while the remaining portion of screen101 is still occupied by area 102.

As shown in FIG. 1C, event notification 103 is dismissed whenapplication 104 is invoked. In another embodiment, event notification103 may remain on screen 101 even after application 104 is invoked.

Referring now to FIGS. 2A and 2B, there is shown an example of an eventnotification 103A being dismissed upon expiration. In FIG. 2A an eventnotification 103A is shown, alerting the user that the battery is at30%. As before, display area 102 and its contents are reduced in size toallow for the display of event notification 103A. In one embodiment,after some time period has elapsed since event notification 103A isdisplayed, event notification 103A is automatically dismissed. Displayarea 102 and its contents return to their original sizes.

Referring now to FIGS. 2A and 2C, there is shown an example of an eventnotification 103A being replaced by a new event notification 103C. Forexample, if event notification 103A is being displayed, as in FIG. 2A,when another event takes place, a new event notification 103B, as shownin FIG. 2C, may replace the previously displayed event notification103A.

In one embodiment, some event notifications are prioritized with respectto other event notifications. Thus, if an event notification 103 isbeing displayed when a higher-priority event takes place, the new eventnotification 103 may replace the previous event notification 103. But ifan event notification 103 is being displayed when a lower-priority eventtakes place, the new event notification 103 may be handled differently:it may not be displayed at all, or its display may be postponed untilthe first event notification 103 is dismissed by the user or otherwisedisposed of, or the two event notifications 103 may be displayedconcurrently. Alternatively, an event notification summary may be shown,as described in more detail below. In one embodiment, the relativepriorities of the events can be configured by a system administratorand/or by the originator of the event. The specific handling ofoverlapping event notifications can be configured by a systemadministrator and/or by the user. Thus, for example, some eventnotifications can be configured to expire after some period of time,while others may be configured to be persistent so that they continue tobe displayed until dismissed by the user. In addition, some eventnotifications can be configured to be replaced if a newer eventnotification is to be presented, while other event notifications can beconfigured to be postponed if a previous event notification is beingdisplayed.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A through 3C, there is shown an example of apersistent event notification 103C and an expandable event notificationsummary 301, according to embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 3Ashows an initial state, where display area 102 occupies substantiallythe entire display screen 101. In FIG. 3B, event notification 103C isdisplayed; as described above, display area 102 can optionally bereduced in size to make room for notification 103C. In the example ofFIG. 3B, event notification 103C represents an incoming email message.

In some embodiments, some event notifications, such as 103C, arepersistent. These may represent events that the user would not want tomiss, such as for example an incoming email message. Thus, in oneembodiment, when a persistent event notification 103C expires, or when anew event notification is to be displayed while a persistent eventnotification 103C is being displayed, an event summary 301 is displayed.Event summary 301 includes a series of icons 302 indicating eventnotifications 103 that have been received and/or presented. In oneembodiment, event summary 301 provides abbreviated informationconcerning the events that have taken place, so as to occupy minimalspace on display 101. For example, as shown in FIG. 3C, event summary301 may contain an icon 302 for each type of event that has occurred,wherein each icon 302 is superimposed by a numeric indicator of thenumber of pending events of that type. In the example, icons 302indicate that fourteen incoming email messages, five text messages, andthree missed telephone calls have been received. One skilled in the artwill recognize that event summary 301 can take many other forms.

Event summary 301 thus provides a mechanism for informing the user of anumber of important events that have taken place, even if the user isnot able to (or chooses not to) respond or dispose of each eventnotification 103 as it is individually presented.

In one embodiment, if a new event takes place while event summary 301 isbeing displayed, the new event notification may overwrite event summary301. Referring now to FIG. 3D, there is shown an example of new eventnotification 103D that overwrites previously displayed even summary 301.Once event notification 103D expires or is disposed of by the user,event summary 301 is again displayed, as shown in FIG. 3E. Note that inevent summary 301 of FIG. 3E, the number of incoming text messages hasbeen incremented from 3 to 4, to indicate the additional new textmessage of event notification 103D.

In one embodiment, event summary 301 is expandable. The user can tap (orotherwise activate) event summary 301 to cause it to expand. Referringnow to FIG. 3F, there is shown an expanded version 303 of event summary301. In one embodiment, the expanded version 303 obscures part ofdisplay area 102. In another embodiment, display area 102 is furtherreduced in size to make room for the expanded version 303 of eventsummary 301.

The expanded version 303 explicitly indicates the number of events ofeach type. The user can tap on any item in the expanded version 303 toinvoke the corresponding application. Referring now to FIG. 3G, there isshown an example of a text application 104 being invoked in response tothe user tapping on the portion of the expanded version 303 that refersto text messages. As with the example shown in FIG. 1C, application 104is shown in the midst of a transition where its window is being opened.In one embodiment, application 104 occupies the entire screen 101 onceinvoked. In another embodiment, application 104 occupies a portion ofscreen 101, while the remaining portion of screen 101 is still occupiedby area 102.

In one embodiment, the user can dismiss the expanded version 303 ofevent summary 301 to return to the normal view as shown in FIG. 3E. Inone embodiment, the expanded version 303 is automatically dismissedafter some period of time, so that display 303 reverts to the normalview as shown in FIG. 3E.

In one embodiment, a highest-priority event is shown more prominentlywithin event summary 301 than other events. For example, an ongoingtelephone call may be such an event, and is therefore given more spacewithin event summary 301 than other events. Referring now to FIG. 4A,there is shown example of an event notification summary 301 including ahigh-priority pending event 401, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. Event 401 is an ongoing telephone call, and thereforewarrants a more detailed display than the remaining items which areshown as icons 302 in summary 301. Accordingly, event 401 is shown witha more complete description. Remaining icons 302 represent a pausedsong, and indicators of the number of email messages received, textmessages received, and telephone calls received. Since there isinsufficient space to show the full name of the party on the telephonecall, an ellipsis is used as part of event 401.

FIG. 4B depicts an expanded version 303 of the event summary 301 shownin FIG. 4A, including a more complete depiction of high-priority pendingevent 401.

In one embodiment, high-priority event notifications are directlymanipulable by the user. For example, if a telephone call is receivedwhile the user is working on a task within display area 102, eventnotification 103 is shown. The user can ignore event notification 103and continue working in display area 102; if so, event notification 103will eventually be dismissed or relegated to event summary 301. Anignore button (not shown) can optionally be provided to allow the userto indicate that he or she is not interesting in taking the telephonecall. Alternatively, the user can answer the telephone call, for exampleby tapping on event notification 103. The telephone application is theninvoked, taking over entire screen 101 or some portion thereof to alloweasier interaction therewith. During the telephone call, the user canminimize the telephone application, so that the telephone call event isshown as an event notification 103 or as part of an event summary 301(depending on whether other events are also pending).

In one embodiment, the user can also dismiss an event, for example toend a telephone call, by swiping the corresponding event notification103 off the screen 101.

In one embodiment, events are shown on a secondary screen or a portionof a secondary screen. Thus, in a device having two or more displayscreens, the system of the present invention can in one embodimentreconfigure a display area of any of the display screens in order tomake room for display of an event or event summary as described herein.This is particularly useful in devices having a primary and an auxiliarydisplay screen. The selection of which screen to use for display of anevent can be made automatically based on current status of the displayscreens, importance of the event, other currently displayed events andstatus messages, and the like.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 through 8, there are shown flow diagramdepicting methods for practicing the present invention according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 5 depicts a method for displaying and dismissing eventnotifications and/or event summaries according to one embodiment. Anevent notification 103 is displayed 501, as depicted in FIG. 1B. Asdescribed above, active display area 102 may be reduced in size slightlyto provide room for event notification 103. If the user activates 502the event notification 103, the corresponding application is invoked503, as depicted in FIG. 1C. If event notification 103 expires or isdismissed 504, a determination is made 505 as to whether eventnotification 103 is persistent. If it is not persistent, it is removed506 from the screen, as depicted in FIG. 2B. If it is persistent, anevent summary 301 is displayed 507, as depicted in FIG. 3C.

FIG. 6 depicts a method for displaying a new event notification 103Bwhen a previous event notification 103A is being displayed, according toone embodiment. An event notification 103A is displayed 601, as depictedin FIG. 2A. A new event occurs 602. A determination is made 603 as towhether the displayed notification 103A is persistent. If not, the newevent notification 103B replaces 605 the previous event notification103A, as depicted in FIG. 2C.

If, in 603, the displayed event notification 103A is persistent, and ifno user action has been taken on the displayed event notification 103A,the event summary 301 is displayed 604, as depicted in FIG. 3C.

FIG. 9 depicts a method for displaying a new event notification when aprevious event notification having a minimum display time is beingdisplayed, according to one embodiment. In this embodiment, the newevent notification 103B does not replace the previous event notification103A until the previous event notification 103A has been displayed for aspecified minimum time period. The minimum time period can be apredetermined global parameter, or it may be specific to the eventnotification 103A. In one embodiment, the event notification 103A isdisplayed for at least the minimum time period, but may be displayedlonger if no subsequent event notifications 103B are ready for display.In one embodiment, a user can dismiss the event notification 103A priorto expiry of the time period, in which case a new event notification103B can be displayed subsequent to the dismissal.

In one embodiment, an exception is made if the subsequent eventnotification 103B is from the same applet or application and overwritesor updates the information contained in the previous event notification103A. In such a case, the subsequent event notification 103B can replacethe previous event notification 103A without waiting the minimum timeperiod. For example, a message saying “You have 3 new messages” can bereplaced by a message saying “You have 4 new messages” without waitingthe minimum time period.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 9, an event notification 103A is displayed 901. Anew event occurs 902. A determination is made 903 as to whether the newevent is an update or overwrite for the previous event. If so, the newevent notification 103B replaces 905 the previous event notification103A. If the new event is not an update or overwrite, a determination ismade 904 as to whether the minimum display time for the eventnotification 103A has passed. If so, the new event notification 103Breplaces 905 the previous event notification 103A.

If the new event is not an update or overwrite for the previous event,and if the minimum display time for the event notification 103A has notpassed, an event summary 301 is displayed 906.

FIG. 7 depicts a method for displaying a new event notification 103Dwhen an event summary 301 is being displayed, according to oneembodiment. Event summary 301 is displayed 701, as depicted in FIG. 3C.A new event occurs 702. An event notification 103D is displayed 703 forthe new event, as depicted in FIG. 3D. If the user activates 704 theevent notification 103D, the corresponding application is invoked 705.If the user does not activate the event notification 103D, once theevent notification 103D expires or is dismissed 706, event summary 301is again displayed 707, as depicted in FIG. 3E. Event summary 301 nowincorporates information for the new event.

FIG. 8 depicts a method for activating an item in an event summaryaccording to one embodiment. An event summary 301 is displayed 801, asdepicted in FIG. 3E. The user activates 802 event summary 301. Eventsummary 301 is expanded 803, to show expanded version 303 as depicted inFIG. 3F. If the user activates 804 an item in expanded event summary303, the corresponding application 104 is invoked 805, as depicted inFIG. 3G. If the user does not activate an item in expanded event summary303, event summary collapses 806, for example after some period of time(or after the user enters a command to collapse it), to its originalstate as depicted in FIG. 3E.

In one embodiment, the present invention can be used to allow a user tomonitor status of a persistent set of data that is of interest. Thus,while the user is engaged in some activity on a device, he or she canuse the techniques of the present invention according to variousembodiments to monitor status of some set of data, such as an inbox,battery life, signal strength, or the like. Updates to the data can bepresented according to the techniques of the present invention.

The present invention has been described in particular detail withrespect to one possible embodiment. Those of skill in the art willappreciate that the invention may be practiced in other embodiments.First, the particular naming of the components, capitalization of terms,the attributes, data structures, or any other programming or structuralaspect is not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms thatimplement the invention or its features may have different names,formats, or protocols. Further, the system may be implemented via acombination of hardware and software, as described, or entirely inhardware elements, or entirely in software elements. Also, theparticular division of functionality between the various systemcomponents described herein is merely exemplary, and not mandatory;functions performed by a single system component may instead beperformed by multiple components, and functions performed by multiplecomponents may instead be performed by a single component.

Reference herein to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or to “one ormore embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiments is includedin at least one embodiment of the invention. Further, it is noted thatinstances of the phrase “in one embodiment” herein are not necessarilyall referring to the same embodiment.

Some portions of the above are presented in terms of algorithms andsymbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computermemory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the meansused by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectivelyconvey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. Analgorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistentsequence of steps (instructions) leading to a desired result. The stepsare those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities.Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form ofelectrical, magnetic or optical signals capable of being stored,transferred, combined, compared and otherwise manipulated. It isconvenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to referto these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms,numbers, or the like. Furthermore, it is also convenient at times, torefer to certain arrangements of steps requiring physical manipulationsof physical quantities as modules or code devices, without loss ofgenerality.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion,it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or“displaying” or “determining” or the like, refer to the action andprocesses of a computer system, or similar electronic computing moduleand/or device, that manipulates and transforms data represented asphysical (electronic) quantities within the computer system memories orregisters or other such information storage, transmission or displaydevices.

Certain aspects of the present invention include process steps andinstructions described herein in the form of an algorithm. It should benoted that the process steps and instructions of the present inventioncan be embodied in software, firmware or hardware, and when embodied insoftware, can be downloaded to reside on and be operated from differentplatforms used by a variety of operating systems.

The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computerselectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored inthe computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computerreadable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type ofdisk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-opticaldisks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs,EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus. Further, thecomputers referred to herein may include a single processor or may bearchitectures employing multiple processor designs for increasedcomputing capability.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer, virtualized system, or other apparatus.Various general-purpose systems may also be used with programs inaccordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient toconstruct more specialized apparatus to perform the required methodsteps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will beapparent from the description above. In addition, the present inventionis not described with reference to any particular programming language.It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may beused to implement the teachings of the present invention as describedherein, and any references above to specific languages are provided fordisclosure of enablement and best mode of the present invention.

While the invention has been described with respect to a limited numberof embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of the abovedescription, will appreciate that other embodiments may be devised whichdo not depart from the scope of the present invention as describedherein. In addition, it should be noted that the language used in thespecification has been principally selected for readability andinstructional purposes, and may not have been selected to delineate orcircumscribe the inventive subject matter. Accordingly, the disclosureof the present invention is intended to be illustrative, but notlimiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in theclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by one or more processors of amobile computing device, comprising: presenting, along a first edge of atouch-sensitive display of the mobile computing device, a status barindicating at least one of a time, a remaining battery strength, and asignal strength; detecting an event comprising reception of a textmessage or an email by the mobile computing device; presenting a banneralert, along an edge of the touch-sensitive display and separate fromthe status bar, indicating the detected event; in response to a usertapping on the banner alert rather than swiping the banner alert off thetouch-sensitive display, invoking an application that displays the textmessage or email corresponding to the detected event; in response to theuser swiping the banner alert off the touch-sensitive display ratherthan tapping on the banner alert, dismissing the banner alert from thetouch-sensitive display without invoking the corresponding application;in response to the banner alert being dismissed, relegating the banneralert to an event summary; and presenting the event summary on thetouch-sensitive display, wherein the event summary is separate from thestatus bar and includes at least one of a first icon indicating a numberof missed text messages and a second icon indicating a number of missedemails.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the invoked application isdisplayed only in a portion of the touch-sensitive display.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: automatically dismissing thebanner alert from the touch-sensitive display after a period of time. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the event summary further comprises: athird icon indicating a number of missed telephone calls.
 5. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: detecting another event; and presenting,on the touch-sensitive display, a notification indicating the detectedother event.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the notificationcomprises a pop-up notification including a dialog box.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the pop-up notification and the banner alert arepresented on the touch-sensitive display in different forms.
 8. Themethod of claim 5, further comprising: presenting the notification aseither a banner alert or a pop-up notification based on a userpreference.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein: in response to thedetected event, the banner alert is presented over at least a portion ofthe display area.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the status bar isoutside of the display area.
 11. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: dismissing the banner alert from the touch-sensitive displayin response to the user invoking the application.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: detecting another event by the mobilecomputing device; and replacing the banner alert with a notificationindicating the detected other event based on the other event having ahigher priority than the event associated with the banner alert.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the detected event is reception of the textmessage, and the invoked application is a text messaging application forresponding to the received text message.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein dismissing the banner alert indicating reception of the textmessage does not invoke the text messaging application.
 15. A mobilecomputing device, comprising: a touch-sensitive display; one or moreprocessors; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the mobile computing device to: present,along a first edge of a touch-sensitive display of the mobile computingdevice, a status bar indicating at least one of a time, a remainingbattery strength, and a signal strength; detect an event comprisingreception of a text message or an email by the mobile computing device;present a banner alert, along an edge of the touch-sensitive display andseparate from the status bar, indicating the detected event; in responseto a user tapping on the banner alert rather than swiping the banneralert off the touch-sensitive display, invoke an application thatdisplays the text message or email corresponding to the detected event;in response to the user swiping the banner alert off the touch-sensitivedisplay rather than tapping on the banner alert, dismiss the banneralert from the touch-sensitive display without invoking thecorresponding application; in response to the banner alert beingdismissed, relegate the banner alert to an event summary; and presentthe event summary on the touch-sensitive display, wherein the eventsummary is separate from the status bar and includes at least one of afirst icon indicating a number of missed text messages and a second iconindicating a number of missed emails.
 16. The mobile computing device ofclaim 15, wherein the invoked application is displayed only in a portionof the touch-sensitive display.
 17. The mobile computing device of claim15, wherein execution of the instructions causes the mobile computingdevice to further: automatically dismiss the banner alert from thetouch-sensitive display after a period of time.
 18. The mobile computingdevice of claim 15, wherein the event summary further comprises: a thirdicon indicating a number of missed telephone calls.
 19. The mobilecomputing device of claim 15, wherein execution of the instructionscauses the mobile computing device to further: detect another event; andpresent, on the touch-sensitive display, a notification indicating thedetected other event.
 20. The mobile computing device of claim 19,wherein the notification comprises a pop-up notification including adialog box.
 21. The mobile computing device of claim 20, wherein thepop-up notification and the banner alert are presented on thetouch-sensitive display in different forms.
 22. The mobile computingdevice of claim 19, wherein execution of the instructions causes themobile computing device to further: present the notification as either abanner alert or a pop-up notification based on a user preference. 23.The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein: in response to thedetected event, the banner alert is presented over at least a portion ofthe display area.
 24. The mobile computing device of claim 23, whereinthe status bar is outside of the display area.
 25. The mobile computingdevice of claim 15, wherein execution of the instructions causes themobile computing device to further: dismiss the banner alert from thetouch-sensitive display in response to the user invoking theapplication.
 26. The mobile computing device of claim 15, whereinexecution of the instructions causes the mobile computing device tofurther: detect another event by the mobile computing device; andreplace the banner alert with a notification indicating the detectedother event based on the other event having a higher priority than theevent associated with the banner alert.
 27. The mobile computing deviceof claim 15, wherein the detected event is reception of the textmessage, and the invoked application is a text messaging application forresponding to the received text message.
 28. The mobile computing deviceof claim 27, wherein dismissing the banner alert indicating reception ofthe text message does not invoke the text messaging application.